Progress, escape. Nine more days.

Mom, on the boat to Cumberland

Wednesday, September 25. On the way down to Cumberland Island, nine days before the wedding. We're on I-75 south, stuck behind a flatbed tractor trailer hauling fertilizer and a slowpoke from Dade County. Mom's on the phone with the caterer, and I'm making a giant to-do list: arrange hay bails, buy bourbon, write vow. In between snippets of her conversation (You've got another table? Okay. If we put them outside...), mom's flashing her lights at the slow car.

Cumberland Island

Everything slows down when you get to the coast. That's why we're going for two nights. To slow down our brains. Step off the high speed wedding train for a minute and stretch our legs. Feel the ocean. Listen for birds.

Oh, we brought lots to do -- mom is sewing a dress she will wear to the wedding. I am handstitching 37 linen napkins for the rehearsal dinner. But these are slow tasks. Singing tasks. Island tasks.

The napkins I'm sewing for the rehearsal dinner.

(Photos via instagram. Find me @lvcandler.)